Not sure whether a blog, podcast, or vlog is right for you? Well, it’s tough to do them all, especially when you’re short on resources like time and money.
That’s why in this post, we help you make an informed decision about which one makes the most sense for your business.
Blog, Podcast, or Vlog: Our Preferences
[Meghan] Ok, Theresa, I’m putting you on the spot and starting this episode off with a direct question!
If you had only one avenue or format to reach your audience, then which one would you choose?
[Theresa] Oh I hate being put on the spot. I always feel like it’s a pop quiz. But if I had to choose, I’d say a vlog. I know the importance of video. It’s the fastest way to grow that know, like and trust factor.
Plus, it’d be easy to pull the audio and create a podcast and if you script your videos, you have instant blog content. Oh and you could embed your videos into your blog content. Oh no, my brain just went into a million different directions!
[Meghan] For me, it would be hands down, no hesitation, a blog. For one, it’s easy to turn blog content into other formats, like video and audio. So, it’s a good starting place. Secondly, blogging comes easy to me with my background. Third, it works for my target market.
I’d love to choose vlogging and being a YouTuber—because in my fantasy world of rainbows and unicorns, I’m great at all things video! But in real life that just isn’t the case.
Video is so powerful. In fact, I think video could be the best method to attract leads, build your business, and get more customers. That’s why I’d really love to be great at vlogging. In fact, I even have some big aspirations for vlogging.
But, I don’t enjoy being on camera that much. Video editing isn’t interesting to me either. And because of that, for me, video feels like such a ginormous effort that I’d rather stick to blogging and writing.
[Theresa] I don’t mind being on camera. But, like you, I don’t enjoy what happens after the recording. Video editing is not at all in my Zone of Genius.
I can see myself with a mountain of videos that no one has ever seen because I procrastinated around editing them. I’d definitely have to outsource that piece.
[Meghan] Yeah, video editing is just not my jam!
One thing I know for sure: it can be really difficult to choose between blogging, podcasting, and vlogging. Ideally, you’d publish content in each format with the help of a team. But that isn’t possible for a lot of businesses. And that’s why we say to start with one.
So, which one are you going to start with? What format or which platform is right for you?
[Theresa] To help you answer that, we’re going to chat about each format in more detail and give you tips on how to choose one.
We ask that you keep an open mind! Going into this topic you may have some preconceived ideas about each format, but you may be wrong about those assumptions.
So, let’s start with blogging, Meghan’s favorite!
About Blogging
[Meghan] Blogging is my fav, although it’s been around for a very long time (kind of like me!). Blogging has been around for over 20 years, and I think that’s made some of its shine wear off.
People have different ways to define a blog. But in the context of this discussion, I want you to think of a blog as a section on your website where you publish informational, relevant articles meant to attract your target market, build your authority in a niche, and generate leads.
Blogging also boosts your visibility in search engines. A blog offers a lot of benefits for your business, which is why I’ve discussed blogging so many times.
[Theresa] Blogging is traditionally text-based and, like Meghan said, you typically put your blog on your own website. There are other platforms where you can publish a blog, like Medium, Tumblr, or even on LinkedIn.
We don’t discourage you from using those platforms as a secondary location for publishing. But, from a branding aspect, we recommend that you blog on your own website.
[Meghan] A blog that’s on your own website is an asset that YOU own. You control it. Plus, a blog is so effective for ranking your website and branded content higher in search.
Blog on your own website versus a platform that you don’t own or control.
[Theresa] Right, because with platforms like Medium and LinkedIn, you’re at their mercy. Those platforms could change their rules or go away and then you’re out of luck. You have no say so, which isn’t good for your brand or business.
So, think of blogging as something you write and publish or post on your own site.
[Meghan] And how often you write is entirely up to you. But expect to publish weekly or bi-weekly because marketing requires consistency to be successful.
By the way, these aren’t short articles either. Blogging is very popular, and the internet is saturated, so there’s a lot of competition. Just to give you an idea, Statista reports that this year (2020) US bloggers are going to reach about 32 million people.
That means, if you’re going to blog, you must plan to spend a good chunk of time and energy blogging in a way that stands up against the competition. Generally speaking, that means investing in long form content.
Of course, it depends on your industry, your competitors and how saturated your market is. But just to give you an example, I usually have to write posts that are 2,500 words or more.
So, recognize up front that blogging is work. According to Orbit Media’s 2020 blogging report, the average blog post takes about four hours to write. And that’s only the writing portion of blogging,
You still need to factor in the time it takes for editing, formatting, creating images, researching keywords, optimizing for search, and promoting your posts.
[Theresa] Like Meghan points out, there’s a lot of time and effort required for blogging. But, is it worth it from a lead generation and sales aspect? Well, let me give you a few stats.
- 57% of marketers attest to gaining new customers through blogging (ExpressWriters)
- 60% of people purchase a product after reading a blog post about it (BlogTyrant)
- Businesses that blog experience 126% higher lead growth than non-blogging businesses (isitwp.com)
Those are decent numbers! And the point is, businesses are still using blogging as a way to generate leads and sales because it still works!
About Podcasting
[Meghan] Okay, podcasting is a digitally recorded version of your content that your audience can listen to via your website or a podcast platform like Spotifiy or Apple Podcasts. It’s an audio version of your content that people can access via a computer, smartphone, tablet, or even a smart speaker.
[Theresa] Here’s a brief rundown of how a podcast works. You record your content, and this is called an episode. You upload the episode to a platform that hosts your podcast. There are lots of podcast hosts to choose from, like SoundCloud, Buzzsprout, or Podcast.co.
Then either you or your host lists your podcast in directories like Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Your audience can listen to your episodes via these directories and sometimes via your host.
Just like blogging, it’s entirely up to you how frequently you want to release content. Some people choose weekly or daily. Some people don’t follow a regular schedule. But consistency is super important in marketing, so if you want the biggest impact from podcasting, choose a frequency and stick to releasing to a schedule.
[Meghan] Yeah, with any marketing it’s best to stick to a schedule. Showing up consistently makes people feel that you’re legitimate, dedicated, trustworthy, and committed to your audience.
As to episode length, that’s also a personal decision. Some podcasts are under ten minutes while others are over an hour. It depends on your format, topic, and what your audience responds to. It’s really up to you.
[Theresa] Podcasting is just starting to take off in popularity in the U.S. That means it’s still a bit easier to get noticed as a podcaster.
Once podcasting becomes more popular, it will get more saturated like blogging or vlogging. Then it will become harder to compete.
[Meghan] Podcasting is up and coming, and I think most business owners aren’t really that knowledgeable about this lesser used content format.
[Theresa] Yeah, let’s take a look at a couple of recent podcasting statistics from Convince and Convert, Statista, Podcast Insights.
- A larger percentage of American consumers listened to podcasts weekly than attended church or religious services weekly in 2020.
- On average, podcast fans listen to six podcasts during the course of a week.
- Of those Americans who listen to podcasts at least weekly, the average amount of time spent per week listening grew in 2020 to almost seven hours. (six hours, 39 minutes)
- 44% of 26- to 35-year-olds listen to podcasts each week. So, podcasting is popular with a younger crowd. BUT, monthly podcast listening is growing the fastest among older Americans ages 55 and up.
[Meghan] So, that last one is a surprise. I’m not in either of those demographics, and I listen to at least ten podcasts every week. But perhaps I’m an early adopter for my age group, who knows?
Anyway, I’m surprised that 40 somethings aren’t more interested in podcasts. I know they listen to podcasts, but it’s just that podcasts are more popular with millennials.
I want to mention three other things about podcasting.
- Demographically speaking, podcast listeners are affluent and educated. As for male vs female, podcasts are a little more popular with men. Not by a lot though. 39% to 36%.
- Podcasts as a content format are much more accessible to smart speakers. Consumers can easily ask Alexa or Siri to play a podcast. And with the popularity of smart speakers increasing, podcasting has a big advantage here.
- Google has started indexing podcasts, so they will begin showing up in search results more and more. This makes podcasting even more attractive.
That’s a really high level look at podcasting to give you a tiny bit of insight. We’ve only scratched the surface here so that you can consider your options.
About Video and Vlogging
[Theresa] Vlogging is basically video blogging. Whereas blogging is the written word and text, vlogging is publishing video content.
The most common place to post this video is on YouTube where people can discover you. However, you could also use Facebook or another social media platform. You could invest in a platform like Wistia or Vimeo to host your videos. But this gets expensive fast, and you’ll need a way to get more views on those videos.
Publishing relevant, quality videos on YouTube is an effective way to get discovered since the platform is also a search engine.
There’s also live video on social media platforms. This is another option. A word of caution, though. You want to be able to own your video content.
So, if you go with live video as your main format, be sure that you download the content when you’re done so that you can re-use it in the future. Otherwise, you risk losing the content you’ve created. That defies the purpose of having a content asset like a blog, vlog, or podcast.
[Meghan] Right. The idea with choosing one of these formats is to build a little piece of online real estate that you own. The beauty of more permanent content is that its value compounds with time. So, its permanence gives way to more awareness and influence. And live content can be more fleeting and potentially less valuable.
I say YouTube is the best place for vlogging because Google owns YouTube and shows YouTube videos in search engine results. This is one of the very most important aspects of YouTube. It’s really more of a search engine than a social media platform.
YouTube lets you host your videos at no cost to you. And, not only is it free, you can also monetize your videos on YouTube and make money off of ads and sponsorships. Combine those two things plus all the benefits of YouTube videos being crawled and displayed on search engine results pages. YouTube has a lot going for it.
Did you know that you can also monetize your YouTube videos?
[Theresa] By the way, you can also monetize a podcast or a blog using ads or sponsorships. But, we’re focused on choosing a format for your content marketing, so we’re not going to talk about ways to monetize in this episode. We’ll save that topic for another day!
[Meghan] Okay, so how often do you vlog? It’s the same as blogging or podcasting. With all of these formats, plan on publishing content at least once a week. That’s a good rule of thumb. You don’t have to, but you’ll get better results when you commit to content publishing at least once a week or more.
As far as length goes, again it depends on your topic and audience. Around 20 minutes is a good length. Shorter videos don’t perform as well as a little longer videos. But this is very much unique to your brand, your theme, and your audience.
[Theresa] Let’s look at a couple of stats about video marketing. (Source: Wyzowl)
- Over 80% of video marketers say that video has increased traffic to their website and increased the average time spent on a page.
- Over 80% of video marketers say video has generated leads and DIRECTLY increased sales.
- 84% of people say that watching a brand’s video has convinced them to buy a product or service.
- People watch an average of 16 hours of online video per week
- 86% of people would like to see more video from brands in 2020.
So, what do those stats tell us? Marketers use video, video works to generate leads and sales, and consumers like video.
[Meghan] Like I mentioned at the start of the episode, video is hot!
Four Factors to Help You to Decide Whether to Blog, Podcast, or Vlog for Your Business
[Theresa] Okay, So you now have some good insight about the three main formats that you should be considering if you’re using content marketing. Now we’re going to help you answer which one—a blog, podcast, or vlog—is right for you.
[Meghan] We’re going to give you the guidance to help you decide for yourself. As you know, we reject one size fits all marketing. What’s right for me isn’t necessarily right for you.
All of these three forms of content marketing work. So, how will you choose?
It comes down to four factors:
- Your audience
- Your preferences and personality
- Business goals
- Resources
1) What Does Your Audience Prefer (Blog, Podcast, or Vlog) and Where Do They Hang Out Online?
First off, what type of content does your audience prefer to consume? Where do they hang out?
[Theresa] You’ve got to consider WHOSE attention you’re trying to catch. You want to make it easy for your target market to find you.
[Meghan] As much as you can, you want to go where your people hang out online. You don’t want the hurdle of getting people to do something they don’t like to do or aren’t already doing. Because that just makes your job harder.
2) Which Content Format Do You Prefer?
Next, it’s time to consider your own personal preferences and your personality. What’s your comfort level and what kind of personality do you have?
For instance, I already mentioned that I really like video, but I’m not that comfortable with it. It’s a lot of effort and time for me to record and edit videos and as an ambivert it’s also very draining. So my personal preference is to create content that’s easier on me and my personality.
[Theresa] And I’m different from Meghan because I don’t mind video, especially live video. She really likes to be more behind-the-scenes whereas I don’t mind public speaking.
So, let your personality and what content type you prefer help you decide. Don’t choose a format that goes against your core. But, don’t let fear stand in your way either. Sometimes it’s good to get out of your comfort zone.
3) What are Your Business Goals?
[Meghan] It’s all about balance, right? You want your “Y.O.U.” (Your Original Uniqueness) to shine, and choosing the format that works with your personality will support that.
Another thing to consider is your business goals. When you’re thinking about each one of these formats, remember what’s driving your content marketing.
For example, if your number one goal is to drive traffic to your website, then blogging or vlogging are better options. If your number one goal is to reduce customer service calls, vlogging may be best so that you can offer product tutorials. If you’re trying to achieve omni-channel marketing as a solo marketer, business blogging is a great for productivity.
It really does depend on your primary goals.
Spend some time on your content strategy to better understand WHAT you’re trying to accomplish so that you can identify HOW to go about accomplishing it.
[Theresa] Strategy is so important! Goals are at the foundation of your marketing.
And speaking of goals, take a few minutes to set some around your content marketing strategy when it comes to blogging, podcasting and vlogging. Create clear goals around how often you deliver new content and also around your numbers. But be realistic.
4) What Resources are Available to You?
[Meghan] Finally, we want you to consider your resources. I think this is where business owners err. They don’t factor in their available resources, and that leads to problems. And when we say resources, we really mean money, time, and expertise.
[Theresa] If you have a big budget, then you can outsource nearly almost all of the work or hire a team member.
In this scenario, you don’t have to worry too much about time or your expertise. Someone else can manage the content production. You’ll need to quantify how much of your time is needed and factor that into your choice.
For instance, your participation in blogging could be minimal or next to nothing since you can hire a content strategist, ghostwriter, designer, and an SEO expert.
With video, you may be the face of your brand and need to spend a few days in a studio recording, although you could still hire out the script writing and production.
[Meghan] A good budget does make content marketing easier!
But if you are on a tight budget and you’re doing it all yourself, then time and expertise are bigger factors in your decision. Which of the three formats do you have experience and expertise in doing?
Your level of expertise will determine how much time it will take to tackle any of these content formats. So, decide how much time you are willing to invest and choose the one that makes the most sense based on your budget and schedule.
There’s typically a bigger learning curve with video due to the tech around it. You’ve got to have the right equipment and software in addition to the content aspect.
On the flip side, the barriers to blogging are low. I feel like podcasting falls somewhere between blogging and vlogging since it’s a bit more technical due to editing the audio file.
[Theresa] But if you have even a small budget, you can outsource editing to someone and that can make video and podcasting much less overwhelming and more doable.
Ultimately, you want to be out of the weeds in your business so that you can focus on leadership and more of those tasks that directly generate revenue. And you’ll get there eventually, so don’t get discouraged if you’re not able to outsource yet.
Remember, it’s small steps. You can start simply, but just start.
Related: The 3 Steps to Do Before Launching a Blog, Vlog, or Podcast
The Holy Grail of Content Marketing: Having a Blog, Podcast, AND a Vlog
[Meghan] Okay, we always say that it’s important to get started and to do that, choose ONE format and go all in on that one main content asset. Small tweaks and small steps yield big results over time. It’s like compound interest. So, begin with one, master it, then add another form of content into the mix over time when you can hire help.
Personally, I think that blogging is a good starting place for nearly every business. And here’s why.
A blog is an asset that you own and control. It’s awesome for ranking in search engines and it’s relatively easy to start. Plus, you can use your blog as a script for a podcast or for video.
Thus, a blog makes it possible to easily branch out, be everywhere, and reach audiences across all three formats. This amplifies your results from one piece of content.
Your video and audio can then be added to your blog, which gives people more options to consume your content, increases SEO juice, and gives your website—and your slice of online real estate—even more clout, authority, and visibility.
This is the big enchilada though. This is repurposing your content, and it’s a lot of work if you’re DIYing your marketing. So, I’m not suggesting that this is today’s goal.
The secret to tackling content marketing is outsourcing. But, content that you own lives forever and can be one of the biggest assets in your business. It’s worth consideration on multiple levels.
[Theresa] And I’ll add that it’s important for your own success to avoid comparing yourself with someone who is in the more advanced stages of their business.
Things may look perfect for them, but they went through messy moments and tough times to get where they are.
Be patient with yourself on your journey to success!
[Meghan] Such a great message!
Don’t forget to pick up my free Content Strategy from Scratch workbook + videos to help you get started with your blog, vlog, or podcast.
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